1. Field
The present invention relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to techniques for managing the display of information for multiple calls in wireless communication devices.
2. Background
Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication such as voice, packet data, video, messaging, and so on. These systems may be multiple-access systems capable of supporting communication with multiple users and may be based on code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), or some other multiple access techniques.
Many communication systems allow a user to maintain multiple calls concurrently with a single wireless communication device (e.g., a cellular phone). The multi-call capability is desirable for many applications. For example, a user may exploit the multi-call capability to make a three-way or conference call whereby two or possibly more calls to different phone numbers are concurrently maintained. As another example, a user may maintain multiple calls to implement video conferencing, with a voice call being maintained for voice communication and a data call being maintained for video. As yet another example, a user may be logged on to the Web with a data call and may thereafter receive and accept a voice call from another user via the same wireless device, without having to drop the data call.
When multiple calls are in progress on a wireless device, it is desirable to be able to provide the user with pertinent information regarding these calls, if and when requested. For many wireless devices, this is made challenging by several factors. First, the display screens for many wireless devices are relatively small, which limits the amount of information that may be shown. Second, as the number and types of services offered by service providers grow and as the options and configurations for these services increase, there may be a large amount of information available for calls.
There is therefore a need in the art for techniques to efficiently display information for multiple calls.